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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCalled Commission Meeting November 24, 2014 CALLED MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER November 24, 2014 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 12:00 Noon, Monday, November 24, 2014, the Honorable Deke Copenhaver, Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Guilfoyle, Mason, Harris, Williams, Fennoy, Johnson, Hasan, Davis, Smith, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. ABSENT: Hon. Lockett, member of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Mr. Mayor: I’ll go ahead and call the legal meeting to order. I believe that we have one addition or request for an addition to the agenda. Approval to award RFP for the Workers Compensation Third The Clerk: Yes, sir. Party Administrator to Cornel pending final negotiation of contract by the Law Department. We Mr. Mayor: Do we have unanimous consent to add that? (No response) Okay. need a motion to approve that? The Clerk: Yes, sir. Mr. Guilfoyle: So move. Ms. Davis: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion that’s been made and properly seconded. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Williams: Is this to add it? The Clerk: No, that’s to approve it. Mr. Williams: No, no. The Clerk: Yes, sir, we just got a motion to approve, this vote is to approve. Ms. Davis: I thought it was to add it. Mr. Williams: That’s right. Mr. Mayor: No, I asked for unanimous consent and nobody objected. Mr. Williams: Is this to add and approve? 1 Mr. Mayor: No, I asked if there was unanimous consent to add it and nobody objected to adding it and then I requested a motion to approve which was then made and properly seconded. Mr. Williams: I thought you was adding it, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: I said do we have unanimous consent and there were no objections. Mr. Hasan: I think all of us assumed the same thing, even Ms. Davis as well, because I did have some questions about it as well so the heat got us. Mr. Mayor: Well, this is way we’ve always done things. I’ve requested do we have unanimous consent. If anybody objected – Mr. Williams: Okay, I make a motion to reconsider this item, Mr. Mayor, if that’s what we need to do. Mr. Mayor: Make a substitute motion? Mr. Williams: Substitute motion to reconsider this item. The Clerk: We haven’t voted yet. Mr. Williams: I haven’t voted either but I – Mr. Mayor: The motion has been made and properly seconded so either you can approve it or not. Then it can come before us again. Mr. Hasan: Can I change my vote? The Clerk: Well, she’s, we’re getting ready to allow ya’ll to vote. The motion is to approve. Mr. Mayor: The motion is to approve. No, this is to approve. There was no objections when I requested did we have unanimous consent so but you can vote it up or down. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. The Clerk: Yes, sir. Mr. Johnson, Ms. Davis, Mr. Mason, Mr. Hasan, Mr. Williams and Mr. Smith vote No. Mr. Fennoy out. Motion fails 2-6. Mr. Mayor: Okay, we’ve disposed of that agenda item. Mr. MacKenzie. 1.LEGAL MEETING A.Pending and potential litigation 2 B.Real estate C.Personnel Mr. MacKenzie: I would entertain a motion to go into a closed legal meeting to discuss pending and potential litigation, real estate and personnel. Mr. Mayor: Can I get a motion to that effect? Mr. Guilfoyle: So move. Ms. Davis: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion that’s been made and properly seconded to go into legal. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Williams: Personal point of privilege. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Williams. Mr. Williams: That last item we just voted down not to be added or not to be approved at all, is that what we just did on the last item just so I can be clear? Mr. Mayor: Yes. The Clerk: Keep in mind the item is also on Administrative Services Committee agenda. Mr. Johnson: Yeah, it’s still on the agenda. Mr. Williams: So why was it added if it was on that? The Clerk: We need the HR Director here. She made a request through the Mayor to add this item to the Special Called Meeting agenda. Mr. Mayor: And I would let her speak for herself but she said it was a time-sensitive issue. Mr. Williams: Then it ain’t no time-sensitive if she ain’t on time. Mr. Mayor: Jody, would you like to shed some light on this? Mr. Williams: I thought the Human Resource, now I’m getting confused by these people you’re calling up and if there was Jody – Mr. Mayor: Well, we’ve already disposed of the item, Commissioner, so it’s on Administrative Services and hopefully the HR Director will be there to explain it then. Okay, has everybody voted to go into legal? 3 The Clerk: No, sir. Motion carries 9-0. Mr. Mayor: Okay, we’re off to a rollicking start and now we’re in legal. [LEGAL MEETING] Mr. Mayor: Now that we have a quorum established, I’ll go ahead and call the legal meeting back to order. Mr. MacKenzie. 2.Motion to authorize execution by the Mayor of the affidavit of compliance with Georgia’s Open Meeting Act. Mr. MacKenzie: I would entertain a motion to execute the closed meeting affidavit. Mr. Guilfoyle: So move. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion. Is there a second? Mr. Johnson: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion that’s been made and properly seconded. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Fennoy out. Motion carries 8-0. Mr. Mayor: Mr. MacKenzie. Mr. MacKenzie: I would entertain a motion to approve a resolution accepting transfer property from Downtown Development Authority known as Map and Parcel No. 037-3-001-01-0 and to authorize the Mayor and Clerk of Commission to execute all necessary documents to effectuate the conveyance of said property to Augusta, Georgia. Mr. Harris: So move. Mr. Johnson: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion that’s been made and properly seconded. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Fennoy out. Motion carries 8-0. 4 Mr. Mayor: Mr. MacKenzie. Mr. MacKenzie: I would entertain a motion to authorize the payment of $141,837.50 to J. S. Rowe Inc. in exchange for an assignment of any and all claims of J. S. Rowe Inc. against Southern Arbor and to authorize the Mayor and Administrator to execute an agreement to this effect in the form approved by General Counsel. Mr. Mayor: Can I get a motion to that effect? Mr. Guilfoyle: So move. Mr. Johnson: Second. Mr. Mayor: Motion’s been made and properly seconded. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Fennoy out. Motion carries 8-0. Mr. Mayor: Mr. MacKenzie. Mr. MacKenzie: And the final item is a motion to continue Steve Cassell’s interim appointment as Deputy Administrator and to recognize Tameka Allen’s return to her roles as Deputy Administrator and Information Technology Director and to authorize the Administrator to hire two Deputy Administrators through a competitive selection process. Mr. Mayor: Can I get a motion to that effect? Mr. Johnson: So move. Mr. Guilfoyle: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion that’s been made and properly seconded. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Mason votes No. Mr. Fennoy out. Motion carries 7-1. Mr. Mayor: And, Commissioners, we initially had the request for the addition to the agenda regarding Workers’ Compensation. I know Ms. Bryant is in the room now. I’d just like to have her speak to that issue quickly and see if we can get a motion to reconsider this agenda item. Ms. Bryant: Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. I did have a request to add this agenda item to proceed with awarding the bid contract to Cornel for our third party administrator 5 for workers’ compensation. We are nearing the end of our contract for this year and we want to proceed with awarding that RFP pending final negotiation of that contract. Mr. Mayor: Do we have any questions? Commissioner Hasan. Mr. Hasan: Ms. Bryant, how are you doing, ma’am? Ms. Bryant: I’m fine. How are you, sir? Mr. Hasan: In terms of a negotiating process and I could be wrong, you can correct me, would this be the attorney or would this be the administrator to negotiate with this company? Ms. Bryant: It’s been the attorney that’s been negotiating. Mr. Hasan: Is there any particular reason, I heard much earlier that we’re up against a deadline. Are we up against a deadline here? Ms. Bryant: Yes, sir. Mr. Hasan: And is there any particular reason why we’re at a deadline? Ms. Bryant: Well, we want to go ahead and start with the transition process being that they’re not our carrier or our vendor currently, there’s going to be a transition process and I want to make sure that we get that taken care of. I had several that were working on it in conjunction with this as well. Mr. Hasan: So at what point in time do we need a new vendor in place? Ms. Bryant: December 31 is when this contract with our vendor is going to expire. Mr. Hasan: I understand that but my real question was how did we get to such a point that you just now recently decided we was going to need a different vendor? Ms. Bryant: No, sir. This has gone through the procurement process, the bid process, and then we did final presentations so we’re at this point. This is our first year of actually having workers’ compensation in the Human Resources Department so we did take time to make sure that we understood what we was getting. We had the vendors come back in and do a presentation which kind prolonged us a little bit. Mr. Hasan: My final point is and I don’t want to be mean spirited here but from the committee meetings to the Commission meeting we get something, an addition to the agendas each and every week or every other week for sure and I’m just wondering is it a consistent theme, is there any particular reason for that? 6 Ms. Bryant: It hasn’t been a consistent theme for me, sir. This is the second time I’ve asked for an addendum and again, I’m trying to make sure I get everything and keep a handle on everything that’s going on but I have not been consistently before you all with an addendum. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Should not the lawyer make sure that it is legal? I don’t understand, I know Ms. Jackson is not advertising for any more business with all the business we’ve got here but shouldn’t the administrator be handling this? Who made that decision that the attorney which is probably the highest rate of pay we’ve got around here, Mr. Mayor. But I’m trying to figure out how did the attorney negotiate versus staff or someone from the Administrator’s office doing the negotiation and if there’s a legal problem it ought to go through the attorney so the attorney looks at it and says this is legal or this is not legal. We have a lot of situations that went through the attorney’s office and I didn’t feel it was necessary to do that but it happens and I’m trying to figure out how can the attorney do a better job and I know that if you’re talking to another attorney is that the reason you want to have it done that way? Ms. Bryant: Sir, I’m keeping it to what I understand the process to be. I can tell you that we have reviewed the contract. The attorneys just take a look at it and make sure that everything that’s in it is legal and if there needs to be some information or legal verbiage that needs to be in there that’s not there, they would include that but – Mr. Williams: I guess when I looked at final negotiations it made me think there would be some negotiation with the attorneys versus our administrator or someone else that’s assigned to do that and if there’s a legal side of this, a little while ago Ms. Smitherman was fixing to address it and you were not here and I had a problem with that because it came from your department and I thought someone from that department should be the person to direct us and tell us what it is but no one can say why the attorney have to do that versus the administrator? No one? Mr. MacKenzie: Well, if I can just clarify. This is usually a collaborative process. We’re not the sole negotiators on something like this. Typically if there are legal issues involved, we get involved in those. Otherwise this is usually a collaborative process for, to negotiate something like this where the department would provide information. If there is some language in the contract that the lawyers have a problem with, we usually get involved at that level but we’re not necessarily the prime negotiator for these kinds of contracts and we’re not involved at all unless there’s a legal issue. Mr. Williams: Okay, then who is? I mean it states the lawyer so if you’re not, then I think Ms. Allen ought to be stated here to know that she’s going to be the one who sits down with, and I’m sorry, Ms. Allen, I’m not trying to find you no business but it just – The Clerk: Ms. Jackson. Mr. Williams: I’m sorry, Ms. Jackson, I’m sorry I’m not trying to hunt you a business but that’s just part of the territory and I think you’re aware of that but I think her name should be 7 the one versus and if she’s got some issues, it ought to filter down to the attorneys and let them look at it versus if there’s a legal aspect. If there’s a plumbing problem, I can get Grady to look at it. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Guilfoyle. Mr. Guilfoyle: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Ms. Bryant, I see that Cornel is currently our provider for the third party administrator for the workman’s comp. It also shows in an analysis that they are going to be offering a 24/7 nurse triage and other resources to help the employees return back to work quickly. Ms. Bryant: Absolutely. Mr. Guilfoyle: Can you enlighten me, this additional, I know we went through a competitive bid process with five other vendors and they was deemed the best as far as offering a 24/7, did they increase their yearly cost to us? Ms. Bryant: No, sir, they did not. Actually their cost came in right, about the same as our current provider but they have the additional resources they’re going to, that we’d be able to utilize such as the 24/7, the triage, and actual reporting, receiving reporting information to help lower those insurance costs and things of that nature and it did not increase the cost. It’s not an additional cost for that. Mr. Guilfoyle: Okay. If anything it should show a savings during the year to get employees back to work. Ms. Bryant: Oh, absolutely. Mr. Guilfoyle: Motion to approve. Mr. Mayor: Or a motion to reconsider the agenda item. Mr. Guilfoyle: Motion to reconsider the agenda item, Mr. Mayor. Ms. Davis: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion that’s been made and properly seconded. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Mason votes No. Motion carries 8-1. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Guilfoyle, would you like to make a motion now to approve the agenda item? Mr. Guilfoyle: Motion to approve. 8 Mr. Mayor: Do we have the second? Ms. Davis: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion that’s been made and properly seconded. Commissioner will now vote by the usual sign. Motion carries 9-0. Mr. Mayor: With no further business to come before the body, we stand adjourned. [MEETING ADJOURNED] Lena J. Bonner Clerk of Commission CERTIFICATION: I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Called Meeting of the Augusta Richmond County Commission held on November 24, 2014. ________________________ Clerk of Commission 9